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Golovkin: “If Canelo’s not ready now, bring my belt”

By Dan Ambrose: IBF/WBA middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (34-0, 31 KOs) says he’s not going to give WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) the catch-weight handicap that he and his management have been talking about wanting in order to fight Golovkin.

There will not be a catch-weight in a fight between them, says Golovkin. If the two of them are going to fight, it’s going to have to be at the full weight of 160 for the middleweight division.

Golovkin says that Canelo needs to bring him his WBC belt and give it to him if he’s not ready to fight him later this year.

He’s mandatory challenger. He’s great boxer, seriously,” said Joshua to Behind the Gloves. “He has good amateur experience. I think it’s not easy fight for us. I promise a great show.”
In speaking about Canelo, Golovkin said “He’s a champion in the middleweight division. The middleweight division is 160. The second question is 155, 154, this is terrible. I’m ready to fight anybody now. If he’s not ready now, bring my belt,” said Golovkin.

Canelo has a fight on May 7 against Amir Khan (31-3, 19 KOs). If Canelo wins that fight, he has exactly 15 days to decide whether he’ll fight the winner of this Saturday’s contest between Golovkin and Dominic Wade (18-0, 12 KOs). Golovkin is expected to obliterate Wade without any problems.

If Canelo chooses not to fight the winner of the Golovkin-Wade fight, then the World Boxing Council is supposed to step in and strip the 25-year-old Mexican fighter of his WBC middleweight title. Whether the WBC does this or not is the big question. You can argue that the WBC will lose credibility if they let Canelo keep his WBC title without fighting Golovkin, but you could understand why they might choose not to.

Canelo will be around for another 10 years at least, and he can bring in good money in sanctioning fees during all those years. Golovkin doesn’t have too much time left in the sport, and he might only have four or five more good years left before his skills erode to the point where he’s no longer a world champion caliber fighter.

“Not too much,” Golovkin said when asked if he’d be disappointed if he can’t fight Canelo in 2016. “Boxing is a sport first of all, and second it’s business. Show me who is number one, who is best. Okay, you need money. It doesn’t matter against who, against Manny.”

When asked if he’d entertain the idea of a catch-weight against Canelo, Golovkin said “No.
There will be no catch-weight for Canelo. If he’s to fight Golovkin in 2016, then it’ll have to beat at 160. It’s doubtful that Canelo will lose any sleep if he doesn’t fight GGG.

Canelo’s promoters have already talked of wanting to match him against Miguel Cotto in a rematch or perhaps even Manny Pacquiao if he comes out of retirement. Canelo’s fight against Cotto last November brought in 900,000 PPV buys on HBO. It’s likely that a rematch between them could bring in similar numbers. Maybe not through. Cotto hasn’t fought since and he doesn’t plan on fighting until the end of the year.

If Cotto just waits for the Canelo rematch without fighting, it’s going to likely decrease interest in the fight, because it’ll look like Cotto is just waiting for a retirement payday rather than someone that is still in the sport competing like the other fighters. Canelo vs. Pacquiao is doubtful. Pacquiao is retired now and will likely be elected into a political position in the near future. He’s not going to have time to continue his pro career, and it might look bad if he comes back to fight someone as big as Canelo.